No Charges For Riverton Teen Found With Guns On College Campus

A former Central Wyoming College student will not be facing charges, after police say they found a cache of weapons in the student's vehicle.

According to Riverton Police Captain Eric Murphy, officers originally responded to a call, earlier this week, where a "graphic" threat had been made, online, against an individual. During the investigation, police made contact with the teenager who made the original threat at the CWC dormitories.

"A third party male had issued some threats on Facebook," says Capt. Murphy of the people who made the initial report. "The male that issued the threat felt that they had been teasing him in reference to a female companion of his. He basically said that he was going to put a bullet through one of their skulls and wanted to see them suffer."

Capt. Murphy says that, when questioned, the suspect admitted to having several weapons in his vehicle, on the CWC campus. Murpy says officers searched the vehicle and found a 40-caliber Glock handgun, 12-gauge Binelli shotgun, a large machete-like knife with a 14-inch blade, a crossbow and a ballistic vest.

After conferring with city, county, and federal prosecutors Capt. Murphy says that there will be no charges made against the individual.

"He didn't actually Facebook the guy that he wanted to do this to, he actually Facebooked this to his friend, about that guy. So it was kind of a third party threat," says Capt. Murphy. "There's nothing in Wyoming that addresses that. Legally, as far as our criminal state statutes go, there's nothing, really, that we could charge him with."

"The student was suspended and evicted from student housing," says Carolyn Aanestad, spokesperson for Central Wyoming College. "Weapons are not allowed on campus. We do allow students who have hunting rifles to store them, if they live on campus. They are stored under lock-and-key, and then can be retrieved when [students] go hunting."

The suspect has also been dismissed from an area Police Explorer program, which is for youth ages 14-20 with an interest in the law enforcement field.